


keep your friends close and your enemies closer until there really isn't much of a difference

by lucienna



Category: Gintama
Genre: Angst, Friendship, Gen, General Family Feelings, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Series, it gets better though:'), kijima's sad and so am i
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2019-01-20 03:15:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12423924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucienna/pseuds/lucienna
Summary: Kijima Matako comes to the Yorozuya with a request and they're super professional about it. Really.





	keep your friends close and your enemies closer until there really isn't much of a difference

**Author's Note:**

> god the kijima matako tag is DEAD but i will revive it. 
> 
> now if only sorachi would revive bansai the same way.
> 
> thanks to [dearfriendicanfly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dearfriendicanfly/pseuds/dearfriendicanfly) for editing help and for getting me stuck on otsuu and bansai in the first place ily

Two weeks after the Amanto Liberation Army is driven off of Earth, Kijima Matako stands in front of the “Yorozuya Gin-chan” sign attached to the second floor of Otose’s Snack House, staring up at it.

 

Well, it _should_ be the “Yorozuya Gin-chan” sign, but that’s been crossed out and it’s now the “Yorozuya Gin who needs to be more responsible or we _will_ show the Scandal Arc on a large-screen HD TV that I’m sure Sakamoto-san won’t mind acquiring for us in the park at noon daily for a week-chan” sign. Apparently, the feared Shiroyasha is as useless a boss as most bosses out there, although from what she’s seen of the three of them it’s more like he _adopted_ his employees rather than actually _employing_ them.

 

She’s going to assume that the stairs leading up to that balcony are where you go to get to the second floor. Hopefully they’re home, or she’s going to lose her nerve.

 

The stairs are hard to climb (she’s still walking with a bit of a limp), but it’s manageable, and now she’s staring at the door instead of the sign. Luckily, the limp hadn’t drawn too much attention to her while walking around Kabukichou trying to find this place, considering half the people around her had some sort of scar from the…….battle? War? She’s really not sure if it’s exactly accurate to call something that lasted all of five days a war, but everyone’s already referring to it as such. She guesses it sounds more impressive if you say you won an entire war instead of a battle…..

 

Kijima gives herself a little mental slap. _Come on. Just do what you came here to do_. The one good thing about this limp is it makes it a lot harder to chicken out. She’d very much like to delay walking back to the Kiheitai’s ship.

 

She raises her hand and knocks without too much force; the door looks ready to break apart any minute. There’s a shout of “Coming!” from inside, and the door’s flung open (and right off the balcony) revealing that little Yato girl.

 

“ _Kagura-chan_ !” She’s pretty sure the shriek came from the pair of glasses. “Otose-san nearly broke the door this morning asking for the rent and now we have to pay to get it fixed _again_ and then there’ll be even less money for rent and she’ll nearly break the door _again_ and we’ll have to have it fixed and then we’ll have _less_ money-”

 

Kagura completely ignores him. “Gin-chan! It’s Ma*ko from the Kiheitai!”

 

“ _Excuse me?!”_ Kijima shrieks.

 

“That’s mean, don’t call her that.” calls a lazy drawl from inside the house. “Her name’s D***ko.”

 

“ _You're_ _no better!_ You’re just repeating dialogue from actual Gintama episodes!”

 

She can see the Shiro...Gintoki through the doorway now, leaning halfway off the couch so he can see her. “Fanfiction always steals from canon material and edits it a little and people love it. Besides, the author has _way_ too much homework to think up original jokes, so everyone’s going to have to settle for this. What do you want?”

 

Deciding to accept that she’s not going to get any answers or respect, Kijima just answer the question.

 

“I have a….request.”

 

Kagura stops bouncing from next to the doorway, and Gintoki’s eyebrows raise.

 

“Oh?” He looks up her up and down for a second, although she’s not exactly sure what he’s looking for. Sincerity? “Hmm. Well. It’s not good business to leave a client standing outside, is it? Kagura, take her to the office.”

 

Kagura nods and dashes past her, following Gintoki into what must be their “office” - although considering it’s loaded with _Justaways_ , it doesn’t look like much of an office. Kagura and Gintoki seem completely unbothered with sliding into chairs surrounded by enough firepower for a small nuclear missile, but Shinpachi takes pity on Kijima.

 

“Katsura-san’s moving all the Joui supplies, and he needed someplace to store the things temporarily. They’re actually safe as long as you don’t mess with them, Matako-san, so you don’t have to worry.” She’s unconvinced, but has to content herself with removing the bombs from the general area of the couch and settling herself onto it.

 

Gintoki leans on the desk with his elbows, steepling his fingers and resting his chin on top of them. “So. What’s the request?”

 

There’s a momentary pause, as Kijima hesitates, and Shinpachi and Kagura jump on the opportunity so fast she’s actually impressed.

 

“Gin-chan, if you’re trying to look cool, it’s not working. She definitely doesn’t think you’re cool.”

 

“Yeah, Gin-san, you sort of sound like a yakuza boss. Which, if that’s what you’re going for, good job, but I’m not sure if it’s really what you _should_ be going for considering we’re _not_ the yakuza-”

 

“Honestly, will you kids just let me live for once? I’m just trying to hear our client out, _this_ is why we don’t make any money!” Gintoki exclaims as Kagura and Shinpachi snicker, though Kijima notices he’s stopped steepling his fingers. She has to suppress a smile, although it quickly fades.

 

“I’m aware that you all are acquainted with Otsuu-chan, the idol.” There’s a visible reaction: Shinpachi’s face lights up, Kagura’s snickering intensifies, and Gintoki immediately looks suspicious.

 

“How do you know this, exactly? Is this is about the fraud charges from the fan club contest again? I thought we had settled that. I refuse to hunt down another lawyer who we can con into helping us, it was way too much work the first time!”

 

 _Maybe these guys really are with the yakuza_ , Kijima thinks with an eyeroll. “No, I know because Bansai-senpai was constantly complaining about how three people could cause so much ridiculousness in a single idol’s career. We were, ahem, _unaware_ it was the same three people who kept helping disrupt the Kiheitai’s plans.”

 

“So you didn’t know anything about our lives outside of fighting you? I was wondering how you maintained some modicum of respect for us.” Kagura nods, with absolutely no hint of shame.

 

Shinpachi (the only one who’s really contributed anything meaningful to her visit thus far), raises a hand. “Bansai-san?”

 

“...Yes. You see, he is….well, was, Otsuu-chan’s producer. You probably know him better as Tsunpo.”

 

 _That_ takes a moment to sink in. The three stare at her for a bit. And then a bit longer. Finally, Shinpachi whispers, almost reverently, “You mean _Bansai-san_ wrote all those lyrics?”

 

“Many of them, yes.” A small smile makes its way onto Kijima’s face, although her voice noticeably quiets.“And then he made me sing them so he could see what they sounded like in a female voice.”

 

Gintoki leans back in his chair, taking his elbows completely off the desk. “I’ve said many times that I’m going to stop assuming I know what people are like until I’ve talked to them more than four or five times, but this might be what really forces a change.”

 

“You’ve literally never said that, Gin-san.”

 

“Shh! The audience doesn’t know that!”

 

Shinpachi rolls his eyes, turning to Kijima, voice taking on a more serious tone. “So, I’m going to assume that Otsuu-chan didn’t know her music producer was actually a nationally wanted assassin, Matako-san?”

 

Kijima shakes her head. “No. She didn’t. Which means to her, her manager has suddenly vanished, with no contact for several weeks and no apparent way to reach him.” She stops for a second, then continues, voice wavering slightly. “And he’s not going to reappear.”

 

The last phrase hangs in the air. “Ah.”

 

She hesitates again, eyes flickering towards the ground, drawing her arms in a little closer to herself. Talking about Bansai isn’t necessarily….difficult, but every time, it makes the ache in her heart a little stronger.

 

“Bansai-senpai was....well, not exactly the warmest person - for obvious reasons - but he…..always sounded strangely fond for an assassin, when he spoke of Otsuu-chan. I’d like to think she felt the same of him. But….truly, I have no idea how she might react, to learning who he really was.” Kijima says, haltingly. “And I don’t think I’m the right person to tell her. Not now. Not so….soon.”

 

“So you want us to tell her.” Shinpachi says.

 

“It would be appreciated.”

 

The two kids look at each other, and then turn to look at Gintoki (the first time in this entire encounter they’ve treated him anything like their actual boss), who shrugs. “S’not a difficult request. She deserves to know, anyway, always sucks to be left wondering.” He pauses, and makes eye contact with Kijima for the first time. “Though, I do hope you know we’re not gonna sugarcoat anything.”

 

“I wouldn’t expect you too.”

 

Shinpachi stands up, presumably to lead her out of the apartment, and she gives Gintoki and Kagura a small nod of thanks as she follows him down the hallway “your payment is telling Takasugi he owes me now and I intend to collect!” echoing after her.

 

At the door, Shinpachi stops before turning the handle, fingers nervously tapping on it.

“Matako-san, I….” He clears his throat somewhat awkwardly, like he knows what he wants to say but doesn’t know how to say it. “Listen, uh….Otsuu-chan will be glad to hear that, regardless of what Bansai-san had done with his life, he gave it up protecting all of us. And...I’m very sorry. For your loss.”

 

Kijima blinks at him a few times, questions running through her mind. She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t a bit stunned. A request is a request, but there isn’t much reason for them to say anything else to her. Does it really only take a few weeks, for these people to forgive multiple incidents of pain and murder attempts? Have they really become allies to the point where Shinpachi would say something like that, in this short a time?

 

Then, of course, Kijima remembers she’s the one who came here in the first place, because when she was thinking of who she would trust to deliver her message safely and know what it meant to her, the Yorozuya were the first ones that popped into her head.

 

So she settles for a nod and a simple “thank you”, and limps down the stairs, heart aching a little less.

  


**Author's Note:**

> posted on tumblr [here](http://thefourteenthdarkone.tumblr.com/post/166694584946/keep-your-friends-close-and-your-enemies-closer)
> 
> please leave kudos/a comment if you liked it!:3


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